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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jonathan Grade

Fun, glamour and chaos: how Gazzetta Football Italia won our hearts

James Richardson was the face of Gazzetta Football Italia for ten years.
James Richardson was the face of Gazzetta Football Italia for ten years. Photograph: Channel 4

“Welcome to Serie A – the greatest league in the world.” With those words the late Kenneth Wolstenholme kicked off a new era as Serie A became an institution in living rooms up and down the United Kingdom.

A few weeks earlier coverage of the newly-created, and much-hyped, Premier League had launched on Sky and was supposed to take centre stage. But back then, Serie A dominated every other division and Channel 4 had captured coverage of it for next to nothing. It was the only live football that was free to air in the UK and viewers loved it.

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